The Glass Menagerie, Hi Amy!

June 8th, 2022

Enjoying my walk around Covent Garden before the show

After reading and studying The Glass Menagerie in class the week before we left for the trip, I was really excited to have the opportunity to see it on West End, as the production was starring Amy Adams. Being passionate about studying the US South, I feel as though Williams wrote this play for himself and the common Southerner but also for others to learn about Southern culture. However, I felt like the British take on the play fell short of Tennessee Williams’s original intentions of the play. There is a specific type of culture that surrounds the US South, and I feel like this play missed the mark and did a lackluster job at showcasing the true culture, as Amanda’s character just grazed over the ideals and behavior of a Southern woman. In my opinion, a way the director could have done a better job would have been to implement food culture to showcase Southern culture. Mealtimes are a way for families to come together in community, share a space with one another, and have difficult conversations across the dinner table together. With the dining room table and chairs seemingly nonexistent, there is not a communal space for Amanda’s Southern identity to combat the identities of Tom and Laura. Through the lack of juxtaposition, the representation of a Southerner in an urban environment was not able to be showcased well on the stage.

While exiting the theatre, I heard some Britains behind me discussing how The Glass Menagerie was all about the American South and how it showcased the region well, which honestly made me realize how easy it is for someone to critique a take on one’s own culture. It was fairly easy for me to see that this play did not illustrate the South as well as it should have -as I am a Southerner myself- while for the Britains behind me, it was not so easy since they (to my knowledge as a stranger listening in on their conversation) have not lived in the area and really seen the everyday life of the South.

Aside from the Southern culture, I felt like the stage should have had more individualized spaces. There should have been a functioning table, a couch, chairs, etc. I wanted the set to be more representative of a home rather than just one dark stage with a raised platform serving as a table, bed, and chair all in one. I also was disappointed with the director’s choice to have a drop-down screen show the portrait of the absent father. I felt like this screen just served as a distraction more than anything, as pieces of glass and candle work would periodically appear on it. This would take my eyes off of what was happening on the stage and have me fixate on the screen above the characters, which is not what I wanted from the play.

I honestly saw the setting and region function better in the script than in this performance. Amanda’s character definitely showcases the ideas of the Old South, which are lost to her children, but there isn’t a collision of cultures but rather just Amanda only showing her own. Through this, there is a lackluster impression of the Old South in St. Louis instead of showcasing rural life combatting urban life. Lastly, in terms of Tennessee Williams himself, I believe that his identity resonates within the play with how the individuals are characterized, as the characters parallel him and his family’s lives.

We learned in class that he views himself as the main character, looking back on his childhood, his mother mirroring Amanda, and Laura being characterized as his sister. Comparing American and British plays, I have to discuss the differences between The Glass Menagerie and The House of Shades. While these two plays do not speak holistically for the two categories, I felt like the acting was so much better in The House of Shades. This makes me wonder if this was the case due to the casting or if it had something to do with the American play being performed by British actors made it a little more challenging. While I loved watching The House of Shades, as I felt like this was the best performed play we have been to on the trip, I definitely feel more connected to the storyline of The Glass Menagerie. This is in part because of my passion for studying the South but also because I better resonate with the ideals and cultures presented in American plays, like The Glass Menagerie.